CVE-2021-38441 | Eclipse CycloneDDS Write-what-where Condition

Eclipse CycloneDDS versions prior to 0.8.0 are vulnerable to a write-what-where condition, which may allow an attacker to write arbitrary values in the XML parser.

Published: 2022-05-05 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-38441 is rated Moderate Risk (54.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.10%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-38441

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-29 2.00% 2.10% +0.10%
2 2026-06-15 0.15% 2.00% +1.84%
3 2025-05-14 — 0.15% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-38441

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.6 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 4.7 [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-38441

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-38441

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-38441 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (cyclonedds), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-38441
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-38441 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (cyclonedds), 10 status rows across 10 suites (impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, upstream): ignored 6, needs-triage 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-38441

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-38441

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
eclipse cyclonedds < 0.8.0 cpe:2.3:a:eclipse:cyclonedds:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-38441

cvelogic Threat Intelligence